Death to the Independent record store.

It seems that every single column or opinion piece about record stores has one continuous theme; the inevitable decline and struggle of the Indie record store. All the pieces are written under a strong feeling of nostalgia, all blaming the same mediums; cheap prices in the supermarkets, music downloading, corporations, capitalist conspiracies and so on.

But besides the nostalgia, there is very little to feel or respect about the Indie shop as an institution and perhaps there is no need to mourn the death of the indie store, maybe the sooner it happens the better.

Ever since the business revolution on the internet in the last years, under which any independent musician can now represent themselves, without the need of a specialised store, the independent shop has become more than obsolete. The days are gone when the passionate and enthusiastic shop owner would recommend a hot new release or an LP which would never reach the surface without the knowledge of the staff.

Few however debate the big problem when discussing the reasons behind the downfall; the identity of the record store, which most surviving Independent have allowed themselves to be transformed into something which mostly resembles a cult; with the man behind the counter being the cult leader.

However, most of the stores have fallen under the trap of trying to emulate the successful high street retailers and have not concentrated themselves to one style of music, that is something only the Independent record label can do through their online store.

What a major record shop can offer, which will always be beyond the reach of any independent store, is variety in every style and music format. One of the problems faced by every single Indie shop is that it is a reflection of the owner’s musical taste and choices and this decade the listener knows more than ever what they want to purchase.

The Indie stores are still good for browsing and for finding odd-ball music and weird record covers, but one of the biggest mistakes one can make is to attempt and find a rare CD in one such shop or have in mind what you are looking for.
Personally, I have spent an entire Saturday attempting to find a CD of experimental music released on an Independent record label by visiting every single Indie store in the county, I was very unsuccessful. However HMV in London did have that CD, of a music style which a decade ago would not have surfaced even in the most purist Indie shop.

What has changed for Independent record store is the ability of the musicians to represent themselves and to allow their music to be heard through free downloading, either from their websites or not.

The internet is one gigantic Indie store and a huge browsing machine; this is the place where the owners of shops should look at for ideas instead of putting the blame on so many factors, many of which have in fact produced the most exciting underground music scene in the history of mankind.